Ghost’s Tobias Forge Says Rock Has ‘Lack of Ingenuity’

Ghost headmaster Tobias Forge has been vocal about the current state of rock music in recent months. During an interview on Full Metal Jackie's radio program in June, the frontman called on rock bands to "step up," citing various concerns he has regarding the state of the genre.

Now in a new interview with Atlanta radio station Rock 100.5, he revised his approach to the topic. He said he knows "a lot of bands that are extremely talented and very good, but they're not interested in becoming a 'big band,' or 'making it.'" He later continued, saying that "it's important to underline what I meant was from more of an arena rock point of view, where there isn't a whole lot of apparent new bands out there [who people say toward]. 'That band will make it. That band will become big.'"

The singer added, "I think that the problem is especially in [the] current rock climate - 10, 15, 20 years [ago] maybe - is that there seems to be a lack of ingenuity. A lot of bands don't want to be part of something that isn't sort of current. Most bands in rock history, even though you were a prog band in 1973, you didn't want to sound like a prog band from 1972. You wanted to sound like a prog band from 1974. Ghost oriented from some sort of occult rock [scene]. There was apparently a little bit of a movement at that point, and maybe there is still, of occult rock bands, but many of them - not all, but many - have been so busy paying tribute and trying to mimic." You can hear Forge's interview with Rock 100.5 in full below.

Ghost's latest album, Prequelle, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Top 200 chart with 66,000 total units (61,000 of that was traditional sales, meaning no streaming included). The impressive outing was due in part to a ticket bundle for the band's upcoming tour, which if purchased and properly redeemed, included a copy of the album that counted toward their first-week tally.

Prequelle marked Ghost's highest first-week sales of their career. Their previous LP, Meliora, debuted with roughly 29,000 units, making Prequelle an increase of just under 128 percent. To put that in perspective: Prequelle's 2018 first week outsold the new albums from A Perfect Circle, Shinedown, Judas Priest and Godsmack, just to name a few.